Battling On

After five years of war in Iraq, local protesters still trying to bring about change.

• by Adam Fleming

Courting Controversy

Why is Jim Ecker always in the news? Because he can't say no to a good case

• by Melissa Meinzer

Sign Off

Council approves moratorium on new billboards

• by Charlie Deitch

Education: District sending adjudicated students to CEP

Four students in grades 6 through 8 were mistakenly sent to CEP, a private Nashville-based alternative education company that has accepted roughly 250 of the most behaviorally challenging students from the Pittsburgh Public Schools. CEP's contract with the district expressly prohibits adjudicated students.

• by Chris Young

Education: New school will also get new class schedules

In an effort to focus more attention on core subject areas (i.e. math, reading), the district will implement "block scheduling," an approach that features fewer, extended class periods each semester. "The crux of the whole matter is instructional delivery," says Derrick Lopez, the district's chief of high school reform.

• by Chris Young

Spadafora's

Though little more than an unassuming concrete-block box on the outside, inside Paul Spadafora has created a warm, welcoming trattoria from what appears to have been an old roadside bar.

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

Nied's

• by Charlene Campbell

Kathleen Edwards comes into her own with Asking for Flowers

"Canada has its own deficiencies and triumphs, and those are what I like to recognize and talk about and think about."

• by Aaron Jentzen

Simply Kenia is a strong release from the Brazilian vocalist who calls Pittsburgh home

The whole set comes across as a strong return for the singer.

• by Mike Shanley

Young music promoter Joshua Bakaitus joins Drusky Entertainment

"It's opened up a lot of doors," says Bakaitus

• by Aaron Jentzen

Triggers is smokin' on Smoke Show

Catchy hooks and rhythms give this foot-tapper of an album a consistently nervy, twitching groove

• by Aaron Jentzen

Dale Watson summons country's ghost to the Thunderbird Café

It seems that even the "alt-" can't save country music.

• by Justin Hopper

Louisville's The Fervor keeps emotions reined in and raw

Lazy backbeats overlaid with keyboards, laconic vocals and washes of alternately chiming and fuzzed-out guitar.

• by Aaron Jentzen

The Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival

The annual festival, offering two dozen films representing Jewish experiences from Israel and around the world, continues.

• by CP Staff

Film Kitchen: Philosophy on Wheels

"It really in a lot of ways sacrifices itself," says Nelson.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

The Counterfeiters

From the strange-but-true files comes this Holocaust drama from Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky about the secret Nazi war strategy to destabilize the Allies' economies with forged currency. To that end, they sequestered skilled men, including top forger and Russian Jew Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), in relative comfort at a concentration camp. The assignment: Create passable bank notes or die. While his colleagues struggle with their privilege and agonize over their part in sustaining the war effort, Sally, a career criminal, remains an unrepentant survivor, never ceding any emotion (and thus advantage) to the Nazis. Sally's steely code makes Counterfeiters -- which won the 2008 Foreign Film Oscar -- more of a dramatic exercise in situational morality than an emotionally driven story (though there are the inevitable hanky moments). But this fascinating tidbit of WWII history and the coiled intensity of Markovics' portrayal (which, ultimately, isn't without horror and guilt) make for a compelling film. In German and Russian, with subtitles. Manor (AH) [capsule review] 3 stars

• by Al Hoff

Starting Out in the Evening

An elderly, nearly forgotten New York City novelist named Lionel Schiller (Frank Langella) finds the comfy but safe twilight of his life jarred by an ambitious and somewhat aggressive graduate student, Heather (Lauren Ambrose), who has made him the subject of her thesis. Heather not only shakes Schiller loose from his myopia and torpor, but also provides the jolt that frees Schiller's restless daughter (Lili Taylor) from her own rut. As its title suggests, Starting Out in the Evening, adapted from Brian Morton's novel, finds hope in the human condition, proving that age, routine and social mores need not impede growth and creativity. Andrew Wagner's quiet drama is an absorbing character study, the centerpiece of which is Langella's marvelously nuanced performance as the buttoned-up Schiller released from dormancy. Starts Fri., April 4. Harris (AH) [capsule review] 3 stars

• by Al Hoff

Stop-Loss

I wanted to root for a film designed to hep the MTV crowd to the mental and physical anguish and bureaucratic shitstorms faced by some of their contemporaries, who are now veterans of the ongoing Iraq war. But director Kimberley Pierce (Boys Don't Cry) can't marry her obvious good intentions to show the full panoply of Iraq-vet woes with effective storytelling. So the tale of a decent guy and returned vet (Ryan Phillippe), who embarks on a broody road trip to (sort of) escape being returned to combat via stop-loss, piles on every cliché and TV-movie plot twist. It's a shame, because there are glimpses of a better film in here: the mostly understated acting, the nervy house-to-house combat scene that opens the film, and the sense of futility barely concealed by patriotic bunting that runs throughout. It'd be a fine thing to have an accessible film about the Iraq war and its human costs that delivered an emotional punch, but this isn't it. (AH) [capsule review] 2 stars

• by Al Hoff

21

Robert Luketic's film takes the cautionary true tale of MIT students involved in an organized, elaborate card-counting blackjack venture and turns it into a bouncy, pretty-people comedy. As adapted from the best-selling book Bringing Down the House, 21 is very light entertainment that scrimps on the story's best aspects: the mechanics of card-counting, the shadowy world of casino security, and the uneasy collusion of brains, greed and immorality. Instead we get the most adorable, shaggy-haired MIT nerd ever (Jim Sturgess), cartoonishly malevolent adversaries (Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne), and easy-to-digest added storylines that absolve all the cute players of any personal failings. Twinkly fun set to a toe-tappin' beat, but about as engaging as gambling for Hershey's kisses. (AH) [capsule review] 2 stars

• by Al Hoff

For better and worse, David Graham's show at Silver Eye are pure neo-Americana.

It's a world populated by happy people living wholesome, joyous lives, and even when they're hoisting a giant snake, there's no chance of any threat.

• by Lissa Brennan

How to get redevelopment of the Don Allen car dealership site right.

The greatest tribute the developers could pay to the site's authentic history is to leave the two historic structures in place.

• by Charles Rosenblum

Jim Schafer's photos capture the slowing beat of the Heartland.

Even while imbuing his towns with personality and dignity, Schafer captures a nagging sense of their waning vitality.

• by Savannah Guz

This Just In: April 2 - 9

Highlights from the local TV news: Shell-shocked by tortoise death ... playtime's over at Center for Creative Play

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Long Division

Dick Scaife: Uniter

• by Chris Potter

Letters to the Editor: April 2 - 9

Feedback from our readers: CP distorts antiwar message ... Chris Potter fooled by wily Clinton supporters.

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler is a monument to the artistic-engineering possibilities of the Broadway musical.

• by Ted Hoover

Dance Alloy's Feed Your Head Café is the surreal thing.

Rich with lasting images and full of surprises, Feed Your Head Café was a marvelous and gratifying trip down the rabbit hole.

• by Steve Sucato